May 30, 2011

Cowboy Indian Bear is on the bill for the benefit for Joplin at Crosstown Station on June 1.

It's called MidCoast Cares: A Benefit for Joplin and it starts at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Crosstown Station, 1522 McGee. All proceeds will be donated to Heart to Heart International for Disaster Relief in Joplin. The list of auction/raffle items is long and awesome (see below).

The day will come when Janelle Monae will headline shows in theaters, maybe even arenas, and it may arrive out of necessity, not a promoter’s instinct or intuition: At some point, as her reputation flourishes, no one will muster the nerve to follow her act.

May 26, 2011

You won't meet many musicians in town like Mike Stover. He's in an array of music projects, none like the others (Mr. Marcos V7, Dead Voices, the People's Liberation Big Band among them) and he plays a wide variety of hard-to-master instruments (theremin, steel guitar, mandolin ...). He's a native of Joplin, and this week he returned to his hometown to help his mother in the aftermath of Sunday's tornado. Today, he posted this on Facebook, with some photos. It's a moving piece on the personalities of place and hometowns and how the sum of their structures and fixtures and homes and businesses becomes embedded in us, a part of who we were and who we are, something deeper and more profound than nostalgia. -- T.F.

May 25, 2011

One of my favorite live music venues will stop booking shows after Sept. 30, which is four months away.Sad news about a place that has staged some of my favorite shows over the past several years. Rumor is a church may be moving into the space. Here's the release from owner Chip Mitchell:

Single-day passes are now available for the festival Aug. 5-6 at Kansas Speedway. The price is $89 per day until June 3. They go up incrementally each month after that. Two-day passes start at $179. Festival organizers also have announced more performers. The lineup:

An already strong lineup just got mightier: If you haven't caught their live show, you're missing out. They'll be at MidCoast Cares: A Benefit for Joplin on Wednesday, part of a fund-raising extravaganza for the people of Joplin. For more details, see post below.

The two-day festival at the Kansas Speedway has added 13 bands to its lineup. Friday now includes Bassnectar, the Joy Formidable, Ween, and Ellie Goulding. Saturday now includes the Black Angels, STS9, Cage the Elephant, Best Coast, Grace Potter & the Nocturnals, John Digweed, OK Go, Kerli and Beats Antique. Single-day tickets are also available starting Wednesday. Prices: $89.50 until June 3, then $99 until July 9, $109 until Aug. 4, then $120 after that. For more information, go here.